<The night after the sunset (4)>

Cale had his reasons for coming up to Ryan’s lair.

“Ugh.”

He turned his head after hearing a groan.

“U, ugh-”

A pained groan came from a person twitching by the door to the lair.

“Ah!”

Hong trotted over to the person.

“It’s been a while so I didn’t control it properly, nya!”

“Huuuuu.”

On sighed before slowly walking over to Hong’s side.

Shaaaaaaa-

On created fog around her and Hong released his poison.

“M, mmph!”

The twitching knight then went limp.

“I put him to sleep, nya!”

The knight tried to raise his paralyzed body before falling asleep because of the sleeping poison.

He was not the only one.

Every guard protecting the entrance to Ryan’s lair fell to the combination of the white fog with paralyzing poison and sleeping poison.

“What is it?”

Cale looked at Hong with a scowl on his face.

Hong kept looking up at Cale with a sparkle in his eyes. Cale subconsciously looked away only to make eye contact with On.

Cale nodded at On and opened his mouth.

“The color is pretty.”

The corners of Hong’s lips curled up.

“The poison from the Sichuan Tang Clan is great, nya!”

Hong, who had absorbed a portion of the Nine Kings that Cale had received from the Tang Clan, now had poison that was stronger and stealthier than before.

The poisons that Hong had absorbed until now had not been refined. They had been very much the poison that came directly from a plant or item.

The ones that were not-

‘I think Ron got them for him.’

Ron and other adults seemed to have brought over a lot of poison for Hong.

Raon was usually around, but Hong was the weakest of the children averaging ten-years-old when it came to fighting strength. They probably fed him a bunch of poison so that he could protect himself.

However, none of Cale’s group members were poison experts.

‘In addition to the Tang Clan-’

If he could also get Wiesha’s poison to set a path for Hong’s growth…

‘Not bad.’

Hong’s stability would become even greater.

Cale then looked toward On.

On was looking at Hong with a stealthy smirk on her face.

Once she knows that Hong is safe-

‘Then she will automatically get stronger.’

On would get stronger on her own.

She was only thirteen but trying to act like an adult.

He needed to teach her that there was no need to do that.

She would never listen if he just told her.

‘She’s the most stubborn of the trio.’

On, Hong, and Raon. Of the three of them, she was the most stubborn.

‘Mm.

Her stubbornness is almost at Lock’s level.’

Lock? That guy was timid and basically chaining himself down, but he was actually extremely stubborn.

That was the reason he felt such intense pressure and sense of responsibility.

But Lock would soon become an adult.

‘As long as he’s not completely going down the wrong path, it’s not a bad idea to watch how he does until help is really needed.’

Cale planned on just watching over Lock.

Baaaaaaaaaaang—!

He turned his head after hearing a loud explosion.

He could see that chaotic plaza outside the window.

“Human! Everybody is moving away from the stage!”

Raon was right. Their peers were having everybody move away from the stage, the altar where the ritual was to take place.

“Oh, it’s Lock! I knew Lock was the largest!”

Raon was right again. Lock was the largest of the Beast people.

Well, other than Wiesha, who was in her snake form and the Whales. Lock was much larger than Gashan.

Bang!

Lock’s fist sent a knight flying.

Beast people were following behind Lock.

They seemed to be Wolves.

“He’s doing well.”

Cale then turned away from the window.

‘Freedom……!’

He had a lot to do from here on.

“Human, are we looting now?”

He heard Raon’s excited voice.

However, that voice sounded concerned as well.

“Let’s hurry! We need to save the Dragon!”

That was correct.

The reason Cale randomly visited Ryan’s lair was not just to loot the safe.

‘T, that-’

Cale recalled the scared voice of the guard.

Before coming here, Cale had headed to a secret prison that the Wind Elemental, Freedom, had found.

That was in a different direction than here.

It was a luxurious residence close to the inner castle.

The prison had been connected to the basement of this house that looked like a noble might live in it.

‘Freedom, discovered…! Mana, smell of a Dragon!’

Freedom had used the information the Wind Elementals had gathered for the past week as well as one Elemental’s recollection of smelling the unique scent of a Dragon here a few weeks ago to find this location.

‘Who goes there?!’

‘Block them! We must make sure nobody finds out about this place!’

As the celebration was about to start and most of the people had gathered in the plaza…

And right before the White Snake revealed herself…

Cale had brought Choi Han and the others to visit this place.

‘Ugh!’

‘Ugh!’

They easily suppressed the enemies.

It was obvious.

Yes, the Elves and Dwarves who were Ryan’s subordinates were quite strong, but…

Slash.

‘M, my arm-, ahhhhhh!’

There was Choi Han, who was swinging his sword with a pure smile on his face.

‘Let’s hurry hurry.’

Then there was Choi Jung Soo, who was smiling even brighter. Nobody there was strong enough to stop his vicious push forward.

The entrance they found after alighting the stairs to the basement…

They found a maze-like path once they entered.

There were multiple cells and the entire place reeked of blood.

Cale arrived at the end to find the guard that Choi Han had suppressed.

Cale ordered the old Elf.

‘Open it.’

However, the guard shook his head.

He struggled to speak.

‘You need a key to open this.’

‘Where is the key?’

‘T, that-’

The guard trailed off before Choi Han stepped on his arm on the ground, forcing him to speak.

‘I, in the bedroom-! In Ryan-nim’s bedroom-!’

That was how Cale left Choi Han and Choi Jung Soo in the prison and came here with the children averaging ten-years-old.

Bee, bee, beee, beeeeeeep-

Once they heard the bizarre sound of the magic device going awry- Cale spoke to Raon.

“You can detect all of the magic devices in here, right?”

“Of course!”

Raon knew exactly what Cale wanted by this point.

Ooooooooong-

Raon’s black mana rose up and quickly spread throughout the lair.

Ooooooong!

Ooooooong!

There were locations that were giving off intense vibrations.

Furthermore, Cale could hear voices in his mind because of the golden top’s whip in his hand.

‘Air is flowing through here! It must be a secret area!’

‘Oh, I think there is something here in the ceiling. The flow of air is weird!’

The Wind Elementals were quite skilled at finding things like this.

– I don’t smell it.

The Sound of the Wind let Cale know that the divine item was not here.

Cale’s mouth opened.

“Check them all.”

He gave the order to the Wind Elementals and walked over to Raon.

“Just leave it to me!”

Raon started looking into all of the areas that reacted.

“Mm, this is not it!”

He passed by the regular magic devices.

“Oh! This one is a safe!”

He naturally opened the safes.

“The key might be in here!”

Ooooooooong-

Black mana wrapped around the safe, and…

Click.

The magic lock on the safe was released.

The safe opened.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

Cale, Raon, On, and Hong, nobody could say a thing.

They all looked at each other.

“It’s not the key.”

The door to the secret prison needed the key and the magic circle on the key to open.

“If you don’t open the door with the key, the door and the prison will explode together! This building will be destroyed!’

‘Human, this guard is right! This is quite the elaborate magic circle!’

Raon agreed with the Elf and added on.

‘But I don’t think Ryan was the one who created this magic circle!’

Raon had already looked through Ryan’s magic circle, one that a Wind Elemental helped emulate, along with Eruhaben.

‘This one is much more skilled than Ryan. It’s too hard for me to deactivate it right away! We need Goldie gramps!’

Raon huffed as if he was aggrieved.

‘…I, I would be able to do it quickly if I deactivated it once… But it will take me one hour right now with my current abilities!’

An enemy who created a magic circle that would take Raon an hour to deactivate…

Cale was curious about that enemy.

He looked at the guard who struggled to answer.

‘Maybe it was the Second Saint.’

The Second Saint…

That Dragon was said to rule over the sea.

The three Dragon Saints…

They were clearly stronger than the 10 Dragon gods and had something unique about them.

Cale snapped out of his thoughts.

The children averaging ten-years-old were looking at him.

Cale spoke as if it was obvious.

“Next.”

This was not the key.

So let’s move on to the next thing.

Quickly.

“You know what to do, right?”

Raon nodded his head at Cale’s additional comment.

“I know!”

Raon opened his spatial dimension.

On quickly closed the safe back up.

The safe instantly disappeared into the spatial dimension and Hong sounded extremely happy as he talked to Cale.

“I think we will have about 5 billion if we sell those jewels, nya!”

Cale flinched.

“Where did you learn that?”

“Pfft.”

Hong snickered.

Cale was shocked that Hong could laugh like this. When Raon went ‘Kahahaha!’ last time… He was feeling just as shocked as that time right now. Hong looked a bit pompous as he answered.

“This is just the basics, nya! I learned from Grandpa Ron too, nya!”

Cale looked at On this time.

“The House of Molan will now go beyond the underworld and become an information hub. Information is money, nya.”

‘Wow.’

Cale subconsciously started clapping.

“You guys learned properly.”

He petted Hong and On’s heads.

Raon’s shoulders shimmied as if he had gotten praised himself.

“We are all smart!”

“Yes, you guys are all smart.”

Cale had to admit it.

Because while they were talking like this…

Click!

“This one is not the key!”

“This seems to be the currency of this world, nya! I think we can ask the Pope to exchange it, nya!”

“Carefully. We need to go slow, nya.”

Raon, Hong, and On were all going through the magic devices and magic safes in this place.

They were doing a great job without any guidance.

It was understandable as Eruhaben had said that Raon’s magic was at a level where there wasn’t anything left to teach.

As for On and Hong, they had received Ron’s training.

These three were now experts.

‘This is nice.’

Cale was full of admiration as he followed behind the children.

Actually, it was hard for him to keep up with the kids.

– Cale, those children are angels!

The Fire of Destruction.

The cheapskate’s admiration and compliment made the corners of Cale’s lips twitch and go up.

Oooong, paat!

Click!

Chhhhhhh-

Boom.

Magic flashed.

Locks were broken.

Money or jewels were swept into the spatial dimension.

Or the entire safe was moved into the spatial dimension at times as well.

– They are truly great angels……!

The cheapskate gasped in admiration.

– You raised them well.

The Super Rock was full of satisfaction.

It was at that moment.

“Human! I don’t see a secret safe in here!”

As Raon reported to him…

‘Freedom, chaos, the order within the two!’

Freedom suddenly shouted in an intense voice.

‘Under the chair! Odd fluctuation of air discovered!’

‘Chair?’

Cale turned his head.

“Haa.”

He let out a sigh of disbelief.

“It resembles the Emperor’s chair!”

He saw a luxurious chair that would befit an Emperor.

“I was going to take this because it looks like it was made of gold and jewels!”

Cale listened to Raon’s cute words as he approached the chair.

He then looked forward as if he was sitting on the chair.

He could see the terrace window.

He could fully see that chaos outside.

Sitting here, Ryan would have been able to see the entire castle.

“I guess it was not enough acting like a king.”

He was not satisfied with being an Emperor and was trying to become a god.

Cale pushed the chair.

Freedom had said that there was something under here.

“…….”

But the chair did not move.

“Haaaa.”

Raon sighed and Cale slowly moved away.

Raon used magic to push the chair.

On and Hong patted Cale’s leg.

Cale didn’t care and looked at the tiny gap in the tile underneath where the chair had been.

“You’re getting a feel, aren’t you?”

“I am!”

“I am too, nya!”

“There seems to be something, nya.”

Raon’s mana headed to the gap in the tile.

Crack!

The tile just broke.

Cale looked at him and Raon laughed as he answered.

“We need to hurry.”

“You are so smart.”

Raon became even more excited at Cale’s compliment and used his mana to lift up the broken tile.

His eyes then sparkled.

“Hoooo!”

Hong shouted with joy.

“We finally found it, nya! It’s the key, nya!”

It was a key with all sorts of magic circles.

The corners of Cale’s lips curled up.

“That’s not all.”

There was a small safe next to the key.

“Human, I can’t unlock this one right away.”

Cale picked up the small safe that must be important if Raon couldn’t open it right away.

‘There must be something in there.’

He packed it away for now.

“Let’s go.”

The children averaging ten-years-old and the Wind Elementals all left the lair without any hesitation.

Once they all left…

Ryan’s lair was basically completely looted.

The things that remained were things the group left behind because they didn’t need it.

* * *

Step. Step.

After looting it completely, Cale immediately went back to the path to the underground prison.

This annoying stench of blood…

He walked through the path to see Choi Han standing there with the guard unconscious.

“You’re back, Cale-nim?”

“Yes.”

Cale motioned to Raon with his eyes.

They needed to open this large iron door with magic circles to enter the secret prison.

The large iron door at the center of the wall did not show even the tiniest glimpse of what was behind it.

“Just leave it to me!”

Raon wrapped the key with his mana.

The mana moved according to Raon’s will and quickly touched the magic circle on the key.

Ooooooo-

Light started flowing out of the magic key.

Raon moved his front paw.

The key floated up and entered the keyhole on the iron door.

Click.

The key turned, and…

Ooooooo—

The iron door rumbled before the magic circle on it started releasing a light as well.

The bright light soon became dyed by Raon’s black light.

Pssssssh-

They heard some air release as the light on the iron door subsided.

Boom.

The lock on the iron door was released.

“I’ll open it, Cale-nim.”

Cale pulled at the now dark iron door.

Screeeech-

The heavy iron door slowly opened.

Cale got to see what was inside.

< He says he is taking good care of my daughter, but I am concerned. >

He recalled what Letao’s note had said.

He had written all sorts of information with his blood. The things Letao wrote at the end allowed Cale to feel Letao’s desperation, helping him understand why he wrote in blood.

< He says he feeds her three meals a day and treats her like an important guest. But with things the way they are, I cannot believe him. Please, please, save my daughter. >

There were no lights in the prison.

The large black square space was full of metal and all sorts of magic circles.

He could only make things out because the bright light of the path seeped into it.

“…….”

Cale brought over a torch to take a good look inside.

“Ha-”

Cale sighed.

“Haaa, fuck.”

He swore this time.

He stepped inside.

Step.

The sound of his shoes stepping on the cold metal echoed through the area.

His gaze was stuck in the direction of the torch light.

< My daughter has only gone through the first growth phase so far. Her growth staggered because I babied her too much. >

Having completed her first growth phase meant that she was similar to Raon.

Age-wise, she was probably around two hundred years old.

Even if Raon’s first growth phase had happened very fast, Letao’s daughter’s had been very slow.

“…….”

Cale could see a Dragon that was around Raon’s size.

There were no chains on her neck or her four limbs.

However-

‘Shit!’

The small green Dragon only had scars where she should have had wings.

The Dragon that could not fly was curled up on the ground and shaking while covering her eyes with her front paws.

—

Translator’s Comments

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